Practice Areas

French Man Gets Two Years in Prison for Obstructing Foreign Bribery Investigation

Friday, August 01, 2014

Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report

The Department of Justice reports that a French man has been sentenced to 24 months in prison, along with a $75,000 fine and forfeiture of $20,000, for obstructing a federal criminal investigation into alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. According to a DOJ press release, federal law enforcement was investigating whether a particular mining company with which this man was affiliated paid bribes to officials of a former governmental regime in the Republic of Guinea to obtain and retain valuable mining concessions. The man subsequently agreed to pay substantial sums of money to induce a witness to the alleged bribery scheme to leave the U.S. to avoid questioning by the FBI and to give documents that had been requested by the FBI to him for destruction. The man also sought to induce the witness to sign an affidavit containing false statements regarding matters under investigation by a grand jury.